Higher Level

Higher Level (CEFR C1)

1. This program is for students ready to participate more fully in the academic program at Luther with consideration given to their level of English comprehension.

2. Students will receive tutorial assistance for one class period every second school day (equalling 5 tutorials every two weeks). These tutorials will assist students to better understand their assignments in all classes but with particular focus on the humanities where language comprehension is a work in progress. Higher Level students are expected to control each of their tutorial sessions by bringing prepared questions about the content of their humanities courses. Their tutor’s role is to guide them to think critically about the content and to develop their own opinions and arguments, thus gradually helping them to become autonomous learners.

3. Students at this level will be registered to study English and Christian Ethics. Students may be registered in a maximum of two humanities classes while studying Higher Level ESL with no more than one class in each subject.

4. In exceptional cases students may be allowed to also register for History in addition to Christian Ethics and English (typically happens when a student must repeat Higher Level). For a student to be eligible, all of the teachers this student had the previous semester must agree they have exceptional motivation. In such situations, the student may be allowed to add the third humanities class.

5. Students are limited to two Humanities classes and are not allowed to enrol in two courses of English simultaneously with a language other than English (i.e. Latin, French, and German).

6. To pass from Higher Level, students must meet the following three criteria:

Students at this level will be expected to pass all of the courses they are registered in and maintain an overall average of 65%.

The student’s English and Christian Ethics (and History if permitted) teachers must collectively agree that the student is ready to move on without further ESL support. This agreement is based on the student’s performance during class time, their level of involvement, and whether the student showed sufficient evidence of mastering course content.

The student’s Higher Level tutor must agree that the student is ready to move on without further ESL support based on their performance during tutorial sessions. The tutor will refer to the CEFR C1 benchmarks to determine whether the student is demonstrating language skills at this level, including critical thinking and clearly articulating opinions and outlining arguments in both speaking and writing, among many others.

**If one or more of these three criteria are not met, then a student will likely need to repeat Higher Level ESL for another semester so as to make sure that the student is receiving the support they need to meet their academic goals.